There is much entertainment to be had this morning from the revelation that the ringleader of a notorious gang of climate scientists has been taking home as much as $750,000 per year from his climate activities. Professor Jagadish Shukla spearheaded last week's attempt to get the Obama administration to prosecute climate sceptics under racketeering laws. These new revelations make it look as if his real motivation was to protect his own income.

The news about Shukla is just the latest in a long line of stories showing that the loudest scaremongers in the Green blob are able to command extraordinary incomes. Lord Stern's speaking fees are one example, and another was last week's reminder that the chief scientist at the Met Office earns more than the Prime Minister.

Reader Comments (26)

There's every possibility that a change of incumbent in the White House might well lead to a far more wide-ranging RICO investigation than was originally contemplated. The Law is a two-edged sword, as a would-be Nobel Prize claimant is currently finding out.

It amazed me that this RICO call was ever made. Think about the thought behind it.

If the Sceptics are losing they should be ignored.If the Sceptics are winning then now is not the time to double down.

It was obvious that raising the stakes would lead to greater scrutiny of those engaged in lawfare. That's risky, even if you're a saint.The only possible reason for this move that I can think of is that they fear that AGW will be denounced as "not dangerous" at Paris. And then the gravy train hits the buffers.

Pretty sure discovery would be able to show that all wind turbine manufacturers knowingly create an ineffective solution to a known non-problem. RICO is a dangerous toy for the dogmatists to propose playing with. There's a part of me that wants to bring this on, because I'm confident that in the "global warming solution" arena we're dealing with nothing BUT racketeers.

But Judith Curry is absolutely right, RICO in "my paper versus your paper" absolutely is the death knell of science in every way possibly conceived.

The second name on the letter from 'climate scientists' is in fact someone who works in "Climate change communication" and "social marketing". He appears to be misrepresenting his academic credentials.

I personally do not care how much academics or political leaders are paid. The crucial measure is the net benefit of employing that person. The effect of climate scientists is hugely negative, regardless of the salary they are paid. On the other hand it would be worth rewarding any Civil Servant who successfully abolished all the renewables subsidies with an annual pension of eight figures. The bonus, expressed a percentage of the net economic impact, would still seem an insult compared to what they had achieved.

I was commenting over at the Toronto Star last week regarding the "Green Leap Forward" or whatever that was announced by the Usual Suspects (in the middle of a Canadian federal election, no less: everyone involved is either Green or NDP, i.e., Labour or left-wing Democrat).

One True Believer wanted to know why would anyone (on the warmist side) want to spend their entire careers on trying to tell us that the Apocalypse is around the corner if it wasn't...

Punksta, thanks for that link. Very interesting."...that I went back and reviewed every safety study, every pre-licensing study of the MMR vaccine and other measles-containing vaccines before they were put into children and after. And I was appalled with the quality of that science."

Organic local racketeers can be found at DeSmog where founder, John Lefebvre, guilty of laundering money from off shore gambling, supports PR spinmeister James Hoggan in flinging the green muck around while also acting with Hoggan as a director of the David Suzuki foundation. https://www.docketalarm.com/cases/New_York_Southern_District_Court/1--07-cr-0597/USA_v._Lawrence/ http://www.populartechnology.net/2011/04/truth-about-desmogblog.html

Climate Science Wealthcare is a purely for profit, self interest group, set up to maintain climate scientists in the manner they want to be accustomed to.

Any attempt to damage CSW will be met with the full force of any law, deemed vaguely relevant, and all accusations of hypocrisy will be morphed into Computer Generated Proof of double standards by the accuser.

With the legal and financial support of the President of the USA, and the Pope's blessing, no force in heaven or on earth, can obstruct the powerful forces of greed and self interest.

no surprise , let us be honest given the poor acedmic standards of 'the Team' many would have a hard time getting a job selling fast food, CAGW has given them the 'golen ticket ' so of course they will defend it with all they got fo what else can they do.

Everyone always says there are too many lawyers, but no one ever says there are too many climate scientists!Out of curiosity, I looked up Wikipedia to see how many scientists were listed under the term,"Climate scientists". The list was obviously out of date and incomplete, but I counted 232 names , a number of whom are well known sceptics. At the same site there is a list of "scientists who dispute the scientific consensus on global warming" (or some such). I counted some 66 names . This list is also out of date and incomplete. But "The Science" is settled......

Herbert, to qualify as a climate scientist, all you need is a felt tip pen, the ability to draw lines which aren't straight, and the skill to write climate scientist on a T-shirt. Trainees are advised to take the T-shirt off first.